New Curricula for a New Way of Teaching 97

New Curricula for a New Way of Teaching 97 a while to build these SCCs and they are quite expensive to build, but they cost less than building a new school, so the money could easily be made available. Let’s look at the health sciences curriculum we built. The year in health sciences comprises nine “rotations,” each last- ing 3 to 4 full-time weeks on average, in which students experience what it is like to solve the kinds of problems real professionals solve in various specialized fields related to biology and healthcare. These experiences are set in realistic stories in which the students play a leading role. The rotations are conducted consecutively. Students pri- marily work on assigned projects in teams, although each rotation has independent tasks as well. Each of the rotations was created with the assistance of an expert in each of the respective specialties. One goal of the curriculum is for students to discover that prac- ticing science is fun and relevant to real-world problems. They also should develop a sense of what it would be like to work as a practitio- ner in the various health sciences fields, so they can decide whether they might someday like a career in healthcare or biology. Of course, the real goal is to enable practice in the 12 cognitive processes. Let’s see how that happens. The rotations in the year in health sciences are: 1. Internal Medicine—Students diagnose and develop a treatment plan for a fictional patient who has a major illness and ultimately requires an organ transplant as a part of his treatment. Students also make judgments about ethical issues related to transplants, following a principled approach to ethical reasoning. 2, Nutrition Advisor—Students coach fictional nutritional advisors on their management of teenage clients’ nutritional concerns and issues. During the process they also develop nutritional plans for themselves and for a peer. 3. Super Worm—Students work for a fictional philanthropic billionaire who asks them to invent ways of modifying the common earthworm so it can more efficiently improve soil to better supply the world with food. 4. Sports Medic—Students diagnose and develop treatment plans for patients who have sports-related injuries. In the process students produce in-depth reports on additional issues related to sports medicine. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023837